


The Warmth of Autumn

by starlight_and_seafire



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: BB-8’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, Damerey Week, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, POV Rey (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-03 06:03:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16320491
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starlight_and_seafire/pseuds/starlight_and_seafire
Summary: For each major holiday that rolls around, the Resistance combines the traditions of various cultures to celebrate all the beings that make up their forces. For Fall Festival, that means the first night of celebration involves warm fall food, sweet treats, and costumes.Rey is unsure about it all at first.But she can be persuaded.For Damerey Week - Day 2: Warm





	The Warmth of Autumn

As day turns to night and the air begins to grow nippy, Rey becomes jealous of Poe’s costume, as he’s bundled up from head to toe in warm, gray sweats. Granted, he’s also got a makeshift box harnessed around his torso, and a gray helmet atop his head. It’s pretty funny to look at, but it also seems to keep him plenty warm, though.

Then again, whenever she looks at him she’s so amused by his costume, and the subsequent affronted look on his face when she laughs at him, that warmth blooms in her chest and chases away the chill somewhat.

She glances at the other beings huddled around the campfire, and she’s fascinated at the sometimes strange, but mostly wonderful, costumes that most wear, how they’re all so comfortable in this situation. She’s only learned of this particular holiday a few weeks ago, and the whole concept of it all seemed so strange and new.

Though time and seasons vary on the different planets they’ve been stationed on, the calendar the Resistance follows says it is time for fall harvest celebrations. There are a multitude of beings from a multitude of cultures in their army, so they take bits and pieces from as many as they can and try to celebrate them all over a few days, or as much as Resistance operations would allow them to, anyway.

They’re still fighting a war, after all.

When Poe and Rose learned of Rey’s lack of knowledge surrounding this particular custom, they enthusiastically explained it to her, already tossing out ideas of how to celebrate the different customs. Finn already knew of the general concept of fall festival, but his enthusiasm at finally being able to participate shown through immediately, and especially came through tonight, when he showed up with Rose dressed, as best as she could tell, as Chewie and a porg.

She, however, was a little more subdued. It was a little overwhelming for someone who only ever had one set of clothes at a time to learn about an entire holiday dedicated to dressing up however you pleased, for someone who lived on bland, rationed food, who usually went hungry, to learn about a holiday dedicated to sweet candy concoctions and binging on the sugary goodies until you got a stomachache. Then there was the whole concept of watching horror movies, which didn’t make sense at all to her. Why would anyone scare themselves for fun? The universe itself could be pretty horrifying, and nothing about those horrors was fun.

It wasn’t until a few hours later, when they were undressing for bed, that she seemed to really come around to the idea. One question turned into another until she was peppering Poe with thoughts and ideas for costumes and questioning him about how to properly prepare for such an event. Even better was a few nights later, when he pulled her onto the bed, a holopad propped against his knees, with the promise to show her the most outrageous, campy horror movie he had ever seen. He’d said he had seen it many times before, but even so, a jump fright had caused him to startle. She giggled and pulled him nearer, and they held each other as the movie continued. Soon enough, cuddles to soothe each other became kisses to soothe each other became a full on make-out session that led to a very satisfying conclusion.

She came around to the idea of scary movies at that point, at least the sillier ones, but she remained adamant in her refusal to watch anything intense. As for Poe, he’d made it clear that he really just liked it as an excuse to end up in her arms.

She was not opposed to that idea.

But now, she’s really glad she came around to the idea of this whole event, because when she appeared before him a few hours earlier, she enjoyed the way his eyes widened and his jaw dropped a little.

She once accidentally overheard a couple of girls gossiping in the shared ‘fresher, talking about the _smooth Dameron charm_.

Clearly they had never talked to him personally.

But she enjoyed the way he stuttered for a moment before shaking his head and taking her hand in his own, leaning down to press a kiss against her knuckles.

Rose had come to her with the idea, and before long she had enlisted Leia and one of the Intelligence operatives to help, and together they had pulled together a costume fit for a princess. She was dressed in a cool mint green dress, the length of it delicately skimming her body. An elegant necklace from Leia’s personal collection graced her throat, and intricate braids, also courtesy of the general, adorned her head.

She was trying not to pull at the fabric, so unused to the type of clothing she was currently wearing, and she was pretty sure that it would be totally unhelpful in a fight, but for that one moment, for that one look on Poe’s face?

She might have to find a way to wear it again.

Though maybe in a more climate-controlled setting. The gathering was mostly happening in the wide-open space outside of the hangar and away from the landing platforms. It was a large, grassy area, perfect for enjoying the outdoors and each other, and they strolled along mingling with other Resistance fighters, nibbling away at some of the food and sweet treats that graced a long table set along the side of the field.

As the night rolled along, and the night grew cooler and cooler, however, she found herself wishing she had worn something warmer. She wasn’t jealous of Poe’s costume exactly, but the weather seemed much more suited to sweats than something light and delicate.

She finds her way to the large campfire situated in the middle of the field, and huddles near it while talking with Finn and Rose.

She gets momentarily distracted when she looks off to the side of the clearing where a handful of droids are gathered around a large assortment of pumpkins. She recognizes a few, but briefly wonders why BB-8 hasn’t joined the gathering, as a few of the droids he’s closest to were over there.

Her eyes widen in surprise, though, when she realizes that one of the pumpkins was indeed BB-8, it’s round body and orange markings camouflaging him in with the rest of the pumpkins. If it wasn’t for the white spots on his body, she might not have seen him at all.

She returns her attention to Finn and Rose. Every once in a while, someone would stop by to chat with their little group, but for the most part it was just them, and she enjoyed the chance to catch up with her friends without having to deal with the large crowds. Though with the way people were now gravitating toward the campfire, she’d soon have to deal with the crowd once more.

A large shiver wracked her body, and seconds later, warm, familiar hands were rubbing her arms up and down. The motion was soothing, and she leaned back into the warmth that the body, now without the bulky boxes adorning his torso, provided.

“Getting a bit chilly out here,” Poe says, and she can’t help but shiver again, this time not from the cold, but from the warmth of his breath along her skin as he speaks.

“I like it! It’s not too hot, not too cold,” Finn says, gesturing around. “Even the campfire is nice.”

Rey can’t help but pipe up, the perfect opportunity to tease her best friend a little. “What? Are you telling me that you like it better than the heat and sand-”

Finn’s eyes widen as she speaks, and he holds up a finger. “Don’t say it-”

“On Jakku?”

Finn groans and adamantly shakes his head. “I’m about to ban that word permanently.”

“Aww,” Poe says, a grin prominent on his face. “But what about all those good memories we had on Jakku?”

Finn points a finger at him. “Why does everyone want to talk about Jakku?”

Rose slips her arms through one of Finn’s. “But if it wasn’t for Jakku, we might not all have ended up here together.”

Finn gazes down at Rose, his eyes softening. “Alright, maybe Jakku has one point in its favor.”

Their conversation trails off for a moment, and Rey glances towards the campfire, wondering if she can maneuver the group closer to it. Then again, she thinks, glancing down at the gauzy material of her long, flowing dress, maybe that’d be a bad idea.

The chill has seeped into her bones, and it feels like the goosebumps have taken up permanent residence on her skin, and these goosebumps are not nearly as pleasant as the kind Poe gives her. And despite her leaning further and further back into the man behind her, she can’t seem to garner enough of his body heat to warm herself up.

A shiver runs through her body once more, and Poe’s lips press against her cheek gently.

“You’re freezing,” he says. “And I don’t have a jacket with me. Sorry,” he says, kissing her cheek once more.

She shrugs, before asking, “How are you not cold?”

“Hmm. I’m probably just more used to temperature changes. I’ve been stationed a few different places since I left Yavin to join the Navy.” He pauses briefly before continuing, his voice soft in her ear. “You wanna head back inside?”

She glances around the gathering once more, as people move closer and closer to the campfire, infringing upon the delicate bubble of solitude that had existed around their little group. Rose and Finn are caught up in each other now, and the decision comes easy.

“Yes, please.”

Poe chuckles lightly and squeezes her arms gently, before letting go to reach down and take her hand.

After exchanging quick goodnight’s with Finn and Rose, Poe leads her away from the party. They head inside through the back of the kitchens, where a few of the cooks are finishing cleaning up from the food preparations, and where a few food and drink items were waiting to be moved outside to the celebration. Poe grabs a thermos and quickly fills it, before they resume their walk back to his quarters.

They barely get inside his room before he’s wrapping her up in his arms, and she burrows as far into him as she can, tucking her cold nose into the space where his neck meets his shoulder. She can feel him jump lightly from the touch, and she giggles.

“Think that’s funny, huh?” She nods at his words, and she can feel where his chest rumbles lightly from his gentle laugh. “Why don’t we get you warmed up, instead. Turn around.”

She reluctantly moves out of his embrace, and he moves her hair to rest along her shoulder and starts working the zipper down her back. In one context, she thinks this might lead to something more, something heated in its own way, but she doesn’t think it’s leading there, at least not quite yet. But for now, there’s a gentleness to his movements and she sighs softly at the care he takes with her. He helps her step out of the dress before hanging it carefully back up. Within moments, he’s helping ease her into a pair of sweats, before guiding her to sit on the bed while he rummages through some of his belongings.

“Just give me one moment, it’s somewhere in here – ah hah!” He exclaims, before returning to where she sits on the bed.

He’s holding a pair of ugly brown socks, and she can’t help but laugh at how terrible they look, but when she reaches out to poke them with a finger, she can feel that they are thick, and so very, very soft.

“Sure, laugh it up, but wait till you get them on.” He reaches over and drags her legs onto his lap, putting the socks onto her feet. Within moments, her feet no longer feel like blocks of ice, and she sighs in relief. Poe grins. “Told you. They’re amazing.”

“Mmhmm. I agree,” she says, and then Poe’s helping ease her under the covers of their bed, pulling a holopad onto his lap and flipping through some of the films stored on it.

“You had a good time tonight?”

“It was magical. I’ve never seen so many different costumes, I don’t even know how people can think up some of this stuff! And there were so many desserts to try,” she says, gets distracted for a moment as Poe reaches over and dispenses the contents of the thermos into two cups sitting on the little table by their bed. He hands her a cup, and she sniffs at the steam rising from it, and says “Cider! You brought me cider!” She takes a sip, unable to stop herself from having a drink immediately, and briefly winces at the burn from the hot liquid. She tried it for the first time that evening and instantly fell in love with the sweet and flavorful drink, grabbing one after another from the table.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it. You warming up now?”

“Mmm, I think I am,” she says. She leans up to kiss Poe’s cheek before burrowing a little deeper into Poe’s side. Her hands cradle her warm mug of cider, and she wiggles her toes that are now delightfully warm in the thick pair of socks. For that first time that evening, Rey feels completely and utterly warm, inside and out, from the tip of her nose all the way down to her toes.


End file.
